Posted on 12/16/2022 9:05:45 AM PST by SunkenCiv
The Pewsey Hoard is a group of Late Roman copper-alloy vessels found by metal detectorists in 2014 in a field in the Vale of Pewsey, Wiltshire (UK). Excavated by the finders themselves, it consists of a large iron-rimmed copper-alloy cauldron (Fig. 1a,b) holding two bowls (Vessels A and C) and another vessel (Vessel B) containing four scale pans carefully packed with plants (Fig. 1c). Subsequent excavation of the area surrounding the findspot by Historic England concluded that the hoard was deposited in a pit, dug in an actively used landscape with no structures or ditches in its immediate vicinity...
The adoption of a multi-analytical protocol for the characterization of the Pewsey Hoard corrosion enabled us to identify organic and inorganic phases. The initial assumption regarding analytical techniques was that that FTIR and powder XRD could be used as screening techniques for organic and inorganic phases respectively. FTIR spectra were non-diagnostic even after suspension of the samples in KBr. Analysis by powder XRD was also challenging because some samples were not sufficiently large to yield a diffractogram or did not contain crystalline phases other than quartz...
The Pewsey Hoard was excavated and transported to a museum by the finders, who probably did not wear gloves. Although precautions against contamination (wearing disposable gloves, using disposable metal scalpels and sterilized glass vials) were taken when sampling the vessels, it is possible that the sampled surfaces had already been contaminated prior to the arrival of the objects at the museum.
(Excerpt) Read more at nature.com ...
bttt
The Pewsey Hoard was excavated and transported to a museum by the finders, who probably did not wear gloves. Although precautions against contamination (wearing disposable gloves, using disposable metal scalpels and sterilized glass vials) were taken when sampling the vessels, it is possible that the sampled surfaces had already been contaminated prior to the arrival of the objects at the museum.
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Of course. The ‘finders’ were looking for gold, which I am sure they ‘never found’.
And no vermin or insects contaminated these vessels in the intervening approx 1800 years.
They should have worn disposable gloves. They could have been digging up an old outhouse.
Detectorists - really great show
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